This layer of pale yellow, radiating nerve-like network resembled a membrane torn off pork fat, crawling across the back of the Iwa-nin like roots of plants.
The wounds on the Iwa-nin's back stopped bleeding and began to scab over. Uchiha Kin also ceased his actions accordingly.
"What are you doing?" Uzumaki Miyu asked.
"Heh... of course, I'm making sure he doesn't die like that," Uchiha Kin said lightly, as if this Iwa-nin hadn't been blown up by his trap. "I told you, since you agreed to be my vessel, I'll let him live."
He lifted his head and smiled at Uzumaki Miyu. That smile carried a strange warmth, causing her heart to skip a beat.
Uchiha Kin continued, "Of course, I'm only letting him live. I won't do any extra treatment for him — I think you understand what I mean." Standing up, he leapt to a high branch. "I'm leaving. Live hard, vessel..."
"You absolutely cannot die before me. Otherwise, all my efforts would have been for nothing." With that, Uchiha Kin vanished in an instant.
The forest felt like a massive hunting ground. The group of Iwa-nin, thinking themselves the hunters, searched but could never find a trace of Uchiha Kin.
Night had fully fallen when a faint buzzing sound approached. Uchiha Kin reached out and pinched a bee.
"Idiot, at this time bees should have already returned to their hive to sleep. Who flies out to gather nectar at night?" A thin nerve fiber entered the bee's body, constructing a more complex system beyond its simple nervous system.
Then, he released the bee. Night was the perfect time for shadows to thrive.
The bee carried a thin shadow, blending into the darkness, flying back to the insect user from the Kamizukiryū clan upstream.
"Target spotted, let's move!"
The group moved through the forest, led by the bee to a tree. Suddenly, it stopped. The Iwa-nin swiftly cast their jutsu, raising a rock wall to surround the tree. Without hesitation, they tossed in explosive tags.
"Boom! Boom!" The explosions echoed, but Uchiha Kin's figure was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly, ten kunai shot toward a single person. From different angles, trajectories, and speeds, they coordinated to strike the Iwa-nin's back.
Someone shouted, "Watch out!" Kunai were sliced off, severing clusters of nerves. Others threw shuriken to collide with the kunai, slightly deflecting them.
But the deflection was only temporary. The nerves twitched and pulled, causing the kunai to spin in a circle, then stab right back in.
Kunai were much heavier than shuriken, and the spinning increased the stabbing force. One pierced through a lung behind the ribs, the nerve pull making the victim stagger.
"Pfft." One kunai pierced a kidney. "Pfft." Another hit the heart. "Pfft." One stabbed straight through the brain.
The remaining kunai were intercepted for a moment — but it was already too late.
As the saying goes, "Two fists cannot defeat four hands." When Uchiha Kin wielded kunai like this, there was no way to counter—especially when he struck from the shadows without giving them time to prepare jutsu.
Kunai, shuriken, ninja swords, senbon—the offensive power of these tools had limits. Unfortunately for the Iwa-nin, they could not surpass those limits.
Suddenly, a "chirp chirp" of birdsong pierced the quiet night. The Iwa-nin's expressions changed drastically, and they thought, "Not good."
But it was too late. A dazzling blue lightning bolt shattered the forest darkness. The insect user from Kamizuru, in the frontline, was pierced through the chest by a hand, creating a hole large enough to fit a soccer ball.
The chest was hollowed out in an instant. His once-proud strength vanished, leaving only burnt blackened flesh scorched by the lightning.
A charred smell of grilled meat spread in the air.
Suddenly, a blazing flame expanded, filling their vision and driving away the darkness. A huge fireball rolled toward the Iwa-nin.
Uchiha Kin's figure hidden in the shadows was suddenly illuminated by the firelight. Thick nerve fibers extended from his hands like power cables, splitting into ten strands, looking eerie and fierce. The firelight revealed a stern expression on his face.
"Useless blind fool, this old man is here to save you!" At the source of the fireball, Minato stood, breathing heavily, adjusting his goggles, trying to strike a cool pose.
Uchiha Kin thought, Finally arrived, huh? Indeed, this scene was deliberately created by him.
Having been gone for so long, the camp would surely send people searching. The explosion here would attract attention, and with witnesses to his actions, many things could be explained.
The bundles of nerves returned along Uchiha Kin's hands into his body, and the kunai were reinserted into his ninja pouch.
Nohara Rin hurried over and asked, "Kin-senpai, are you alright?"
"Not bad... although I'm a medical ninja, they really underestimated me." Uchiha Kin said. Seeing his wounds, Rin wanted to treat them, but Kin didn't want to waste his cells' potential. "Just bandage it up, no need for further care."
Medical ninjutsu healing increases cellular metabolism to speed up wound recovery. But a person's cells have limited metabolic cycles—it's like using one, losing one.
Meanwhile, the lightning streaked across the night sky, forming three jagged lines—meaning three more had died by Kakashi's hand. Uchiha Kin praised without hesitation, "Kakashi's jutsu is really amazing."
Chidori, Kakashi's original lightning release technique, had many flaws—like its straightforward approach and glaring lightning that reveals the user's position.
But its advantages were equally obvious—especially at night, the sudden lightning flash could blind opponents, allowing Kakashi to charge straight in and finish them off.
It was truly a form of extreme violent beauty.
Once he obtained the Sharingan...
That violent beauty would reach its peak—making the flaws almost entirely compensated by his eyes.
Nohara Rin said, "Kakashi is amazing." Pride and admiration showed on her face.
Minato Namikaze appeared suddenly. Although Uchiha Kin had seen Flying Thunder God Technique before, he still marveled.
This jutsu was simply too strange!